The News from the Old World

Morning reading:

• Donald Tusk: EU needs ‘tough’ migration policies
• French govt to propose extending state of emergency to cover Euro 2016
• Merkel’s Blunder Doesn’t Justify U.K. Exit
• Is Poland A Failing Democracy?
• No hope for Hollande if he stands for re-election, poll finds
• HM Treasury analysis: the long-term economic impact of EU membership and the alternatives
• The Future of Schengen
• Still credible? Critics round on ‘Up All Night’ movement after violence
• EU report ruffles Turkey’s feathers
• Macron: UK likely to pay for single market access after Brexit. A Britain outside the EU would be ‘completely killed’ in trade talks, French economy minister warns.
• Opinion: America’s Election Shame
• Avoiding the New Cold War With Russia. With two risky flyovers of U.S. military assets in a week, tensions with Moscow are high. We need to tone things down, before flyovers become bombing runs.
• Will Brexit make the EU more pro-Russian?
• The French Conundrum
• Outnumbered, outranged, and outgunned: How Russia defeats NATO
• Dangerous times’ for Europe’s journalists. Free speech at risk as EU grapples with the migration crisis and terrorism threat.
• Donald Trump’s Rise Terrifies World Leaders. And Obama’s reassurances aren’t calming them down.
• With Friends Like These … Erdogan’s Assault on Freedom and Democracy
• France’s economy minister Macron suggests ending wealth tax
• How David Cameron got Barack Obama to fight Brexit. The British prime minister made a direct appeal for the presidential visit ahead of the June referendum.
• Spain summons French ambassador over wine attack. French farmers poured 90,000 bottles of wine down the drain in protest over pricing.
• Sharia Villages: Bosnia’s Islamic State Problem
• Italian prime minister suggests common debt issuance to fund the response to the refugee crisis.
• The Budding Autocrats of the Balkans. From Montenegro to Macedonia, a new generation of leaders has learned to tell the West what it wants to hear while crushing democracy back home.
• Europe Stretched to Its Limits … (a long but very comprehensive report) …

I know: Come on, Claire, wasn’t there any good news?

Well, no. Not a lot.

But here’s a video of Jesper, the skiing Norwegian cat, to lift your spirits: